Pages

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

So the local elections

So, rather predictably, the local elections happened and
the Tories were left whimpering and the Lib Dems weeping (the Lib Dems now have
less councillors than they’ve ever had since their founding).

In the aftermath everyone is, of course, asking whyyyy
this happened! Why oh whyyyy did the Tories and the Lib Dems get so pummelled?
Well, the answer’s simple – it was THE GAYS!!!!!

Wait, what?

Yes, us gay folks. Now, personally I’d be ecstatic if I
had the power to decimate the Tories and their mini-mes but, if I did have such
power they’d be even more damaged than they are now so I’m personally a little
doubtful. But according to Nadine Dorries, Tory MP, Cameron hater (and it
depresses me that I also hate Cameron because while he deserves to be hated, it
puts me in the deeply unpleasant position of agreeing with Nadine Dorries)
because of the weak Tory “consultation” about marriage equality, the electorate
abandoned the Tories! Yes, it’s all about us gay folks – and Lords reform! So
say David Davis (who believes that marriage equality is London politics – see,
gay people only live in London, y’know)

So the electorate, outraged over gay people getting
equality and the House of Lords getting democracy, decided to stop voting for
the Tories and vote for… Labour? A party that also supports equal marriage? And
they left the Lib Dems despite them always supporting equal marriage?

No, they say, Osbourne should focus more on the economy! More Tory economy!
That will please the voters – more Tory budgets, more Tory economic policy,
more focus on what matters. And Osbourne seems to be buying it – promising 100%
focus on the economy!

To which I wonder what they think they have been focused
on? Because marriage equality and Lords reform? Have just been words. They’ve
done nothing, it’s been words and window dressing

But the economy? Well there’s the last budget – with the
granny tax and the pasty tax and, of course, a great big tax cut to the richest
in the country. There have been brutal benefits cuts across the country that
have left so many worse off. Local councils are being strangled which, in turn,
means more cuts to essential services. We have the tuition fees debacle. We
have VAT being raised, the most regressive tax, ensuring the biggest burden
falls on the poorest (and despite supposed opposition from the Lib Dems). We
have bankers – of government owned banks – being offered nearly million pound
bonuses.

This is the economy they’ve been focusing on. And this is
what the electorate is furious about. You think marriage equality and lords
reform have people angry when there’s all this to pissed about? Cameron said we’re
all in this together – his economic policies say “Actually
forget all that, we’re looking after the toffs; you serfs can go hang.” And
no, that’s not my line – that’s from the Telegraph. THE TELEGRAPH.

But if the economy isn’t enough, we have more

We have a devastating NHS “reform” that is opposed by the
Royal College of Nursing, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of
Paediatrics, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of
Midwives, the Royal College of Radiologists, the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Pathologists, the Chartered Society of
Physiotherapists, the Institute of Healthcare Management, the Community
Practitioners and Health Visitors Association, the Faculty of Public Health,
the British Psychological Society, and the Allied Health Professions Federation
– and nearly every other professional medical body. All think it will be bad
for the NHS – that’s what those of us without Tory BUPA use.

What about Catgate, when Theresa May was caught outright
in a bigoted lie? What about us singing and dancing about the Olympics, but
anyone flying in better pack a damn tent for when they’re caught in Heathrow’s
queues? What about the Leveson Inquiry showing that Cameron was far too up
close with the increasingly unpopular Murdoch machine? What about the openly
corrupt Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the scandal there? What about the utter incompetence of the fuel crisis?

And do I even need to address the Lib Dems and why people
are pissed at them? Why millions of voters – like me – who voted for them have
vowed not to touch them with a 10 foot pole (except maybe to smack Cleggy round
the head with it)?

But marriage equality and Lords reform – that’s totally
the reason why they did so poorly.